AT&T Adding 15,000 Alt-Fuel Vehicles to its Fleet

AT&T, the bastion of telecommunications and...alternative fuel? The telecommunications giant is securing its transportation future by spending $565 million over the next 10 years for 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles— the largest ever commitment by an American company to alt-fuel cars. A $215 million allotment will go towards hybrid cars, and $350 million will be spent on compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles.

According to Jerome Webber, AT&T's Vice President of Fleet Operations, CNG costs 40 percent less than gasoline and hybrids are 40 percent more efficient than traditional vehicles. Both of these statements may be true, but CNG is actually no more sustainable than gasoline. We just happen to have more of it at the moment. Eventually, natural gas prices will begin to creep up—and probably during AT&T's 10 year vehicle transition.

Regardless, AT&T's commitment to alternative fuel is an important one. The new vehicles will save 49 million gallons of gasoline and 211,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions over the next 10 years. AT&T also plans on building up to 40 new CNG fueling stations for its vehicles—-a proposition that could lead to 1,000 new jobs each year for the next five years.

And just in case current hybrids become outdated during the roll-out period, AT&T has left room to include new alternative fuel technologies in its fleet.